Infinite Reef (30 page)

“I hope it doesn’t decide to move again,” he quipped.

The floodlight gave them their first clear look at the glassy orb and a better idea of its contents. Johnny began moving toward the sphere at a slow pace. Mary followed with Alex. Tony remained with the security team who hung back nervously, guns at the ready. “Should we follow ’im?” asked one.

But Johnny’s attention was focused completely on the object, now only a meter away from him, and he did not reply.

Mary told them to stay where they were. That seemed to placate them, and they began muttering to one other.

Now, with the sphere only meters from him and hovering at eye level, Alex expected to feel some of its effects, if indeed it was another probe. But he felt nothing but the cool breeze wafting through the trees.

The strains of
Ode to Joy
had reached their peak. It was almost theatrical, the music and the spotlight adding to the eerie ambience. He had the notion that the star of the show would soon burst from the bubble. The thought made him grin, and he was about to comment when he saw more movement inside the sphere.

“Did you see that, Commander?” asked Mary.

Johnny nodded. He held up his hand and pointed to the surface of the glassy ball, letting his outstretched hand linger for a moment. “I see a crack or something,” Mary whispered to Alex. “And that thing inside ...” She nudged him. “Do you recognize it?”

“No.” Try as he would he couldn’t read the dark shape turning slowly inside.

“It’s the General,” added Mary with certainty.

“The General?” Johnny looked back at her. “Really?”

“I think so.”

Tony stood behind Alex and Mary, watching nervously as if he might bolt at any second. His eyes never left the alien.

“How can you say that,” he whispered, “when you haven’t even seen it?”

Mary shrugged. “Call it an educated guess.”

Alex noticed long straight cracks forming in the black glass, first tracing a circle on the bottom, then radiating upward, dividing it into vertical segments. At the same moment, above the music, they heard a loud smacking sound.

“It’s opening!” shouted Tony. He began backing away, watching the sphere as he moved. After a few stumbling steps he reached a tree and stopped there, his hand reaching for the pistol hidden in his coveralls.

A glint of light flashed at the top of the sphere and it began to unfold like a flower, each petal pivoting outward as if hinged at the bottom. The thick wedges swung outward and down until their points rested on the ground. Atop the newly formed pedestal was another clear bubble, and inside it sat a Lalandian with its legs tightly folded.

Johnny stepped slowly backward, but Alex and Mary stood their ground, facing the creature in the bubble. “I think it is the General,” she said.

The Lalandian began to unfold its legs, pushing at the surrounding membrane. The material reacted to its touch, deforming to fit its multilegged body. In one swift motion it rose up from a crouched position. The membrane wrapped around its contours like a liquid, forming a thick layer that surrounded every inch of the creature like a spacesuit. Suspended beneath its double set of legs, the alien’s body seemed to be contained inside a pale blue globe. Alex guessed it was an artificial casing of some kind, and wondered if it contained the Lalandian’s survival gear.

Alex smiled nervously at Mary, and she read his mind. “The General looks suited up,” she said. “I expect the next step’ll be for it to walk. One small step for a Lalandian ...”

Ode to Joy had ended and
Simple Gifts
began to play as the General stretched its legs and began to step from its pedestal to the ground, its feet using the wedge-like panels of the unfolded sphere like a stepladder. With so many legs to support it the Lalandian seemed to move with ease.

“It must be enjoying the reduced gravity here,” the Commander noted, looking back at the group. His gaze fell immediately upon Tony, who was holding his antique weapon at the ready. Johnny clenched his teeth. “Put that relic away, Sciarra, or I’ll have you shot,” he spat.

Someone behind Tony reached out and took the pistol from his hand. Tony wheeled around to find a security guard smiling at him. The man stuffed the weapon inside his padded jacket and waved to the Commander. “No worries, comm’nda,” he called out.

Johnny faced the Lalandian again. Now it was standing beside its podium. It raised two arms and folded them inward, touching its body as if checking the integrity of its outer skin. The hands were composed of three stubby claws, two facing forward and a short one facing its body. It lowered the arms to the ground and began swaying side to side, occasionally lowering its dark blue body to the ground as if to study it.

Johnny, Alex and Mary were closest to the creature. “Should we talk to it?” asked Mary.

“Are you getting any – you know – signals from it?” asked the Commander.

“Yes and no. It seems to be somehow connected to sphere.”

“How can you tell?” Alex inquired.

“I get two sources,” she said. “Magnetic static. But static is all I sense, I’m sorry to say.”

The Lalandian stretched its legs, raising the body to its full height. Though he couldn’t be sure, Alex had the feeling it had heard them talking.

Mary nudged Johnny. “What shall we do?”

“See what it does?” It was a question rather than an order. “Trust our instincts, I suppose.”

Alex noticed that something was changing about the creature. “Look, Mary,” he said. “What’s it doing?”

The creature’s leg joints began to move. Like a hoop opening wider, its pelvis widened until suddenly the body lifted, squeezing upward through an opening in its ring of legs until it popped wetly out the top. The joints below then slid back into place, holding the body, like a head, on top.

“Jeeps,” cried Mary. She looked at Johnny, then at Alex. “What did it just do?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Raised its head, I guess. Maybe to see better?”

“Maybe it’s going to make a speech!” someone shouted from behind them.

Alex had the same impression, as if the Lalandian had stood taller to be recognized. Suddenly it reached out and in a couple of giant strides walked away, ignoring the humans entirely. In a few seconds it disappeared among the trees.

Shouts came from the security guards as they dispersed among the trees. Alex couldn’t see them in the shadows, but he heard them calling to each other, and he could hear their weapons charging, like a swarm of metallic bees.

Commander Baltadonis began following the alien at a run, shouting directives into his wristband. A moment later Alex heard him say, “Your guess is as good as mine, Ned.”

6
Mary had arrived first with Alex close behind. The chase led to a tubeway entrance. Part of a service network used by maintenance personnel, it led everywhere in the ship. Johnny emerged from the grove of trees, huffing and puffing. He was also surprised to see the Lalandian standing motionless, presumably facing them. The creature’s blue head seemed to have changed color. Now it appeared more green than blue, perhaps a trick of the light.

Johnny stood behind Alex open-mouthed while he tried to catch his breath. “Someone, speak to it,” he wheezed. “Get its attention.”

Mary took a bold step toward the Lalandian. “What do you want?” she shouted above the music from a nearby speaker.

To their surprise the alien responded, at least physically. It folded its legs, lowering the glistening head to Mary’s height.

Looking strangely relaxed, Mary smiled back at Alex, only a few steps behind her. “Okay,” she said. “I think it noticed me.” She faced the Lalandian and repeated her question, this time gesturing. “Do you understand me? Can you hear me?” she said, holding her right hand to her temple while the other gesticulated, open palmed, at the creature. A moment later she looked back at Johnny. “Can we cut the music, please? I can’t hear a thing!”

Johnny spoke into his wristband as best he could, still out of breath, and a moment later the music abruptly ended.

The Lalandian stiffened a bit. By now the ball on its head had turned bright green. Alex thought he saw it glowing slightly.

“Look at its head,” Mary whispered. “Alex, come and stand next to me.” She offered him a hand without turning away.

The alien bent slightly to the left as Mary’s arm reached back toward Alex. Then it straightened up again as Alex, holding her hand, stepped forward and stood next to her. A spotlight from above suddenly bathed them all in a pool of bright light.

Alex shielded his eyes. Despite the confusing glare he addressed the Lalandian. “How goes it, General? Alex Rose ... er, that’s Captain Rose, at your service ... sir.”

The gel covered globe atop the Lalandian began to form a pattern, like green globules forming inside a pot of dark blue fluid. First three, then nine, then eighty-one, the material inside the glob divided in waves, as if generated by a heartbeat.

Whatever it was doing had clearly been in response to Mary, or the music stopping, or both. Now it seemed to be preparing itself for something, hopefully an attempt to communicate. On the other hand the alien might just as easily be preparing to eat Mary. Alex doubted it, but he couldn’t be sure. He thought of Tony’s gun, then remembered Sciarra being disarmed. A cursory glance around revealed two security officers crouching in the shadows, close enough to hit the Lalandian, if necessary. The sight of them reassured him as he put an arm protectively around Mary. He waved the other arm to get the alien’s attention. “She’s Mary,” he said. “She’s my wife. Please treat her nicely.”

The Lalandian seemed to ignore Alex. Its body shifted slightly and it began to hum. The glistening surface of its bulbous head vibrated as the sound it made grew louder, then stopped as suddenly as it began. Alex had the impression that it had spoken and was waiting for a reply.

“It spoke!” shouted Johnny.

The creature elevated its head with a stretch of its legs and began to hum again, more loudly. Mary touched her temple and turned, smiling. “I’m getting a radio transmission. An announcement from Earth, I think, Describing ...” she laughed, “... our discovery of Jupiter’s reef. I don’t recognize the voice. It’s fuzzy, but it sounds like a newscast.”

“Radio? It’s speaking in radio waves?” asked the Commander, wide-eyed.

Mary nodded. “That’s what I’m getting. Every time it hums. Are we recording it, Commander?” She glanced at the

Professor.

“God, I don’t know,” said Johnny plaintively, looking around at the trees. Several helmeted faces peered back at him from the shadows. “I hope so. Did we lose the transmission, Mary? It was its first words. We can’t lose its first statement to us.”

Mary maintained her beautiful and confident smile as she turned her body toward the Professor. “It’s okay, Johnny. I relayed it to the main computer. I guess it’s lucky I can do that.”

“Thank you,” said the Commander with a sigh of relief. “Please continue that recording.” He began whispering to his wristband.

“It’s waiting for an answer, isn’t it?,” Alex asked his wife. “Or is it still talking?”

“Well, it doesn’t make any sense,” Mary began, then she opened her eyes wide. “Oh! The clicker men,” she almost squealed. “It’s about the clicker men.”

Mary’s outburst seemed to provoke the alien. It bent its body in her direction. She stepped backward reflexively.

The alien’s humming orb made its first intelligible sound. Alex heard it clearly. “Way ... yer ... ar ...” The words were mushy tonal sweeps, without consonants.

“Where are they?” Mary repeated. “They, meaning the clicker men, I think.”

Johnny eyed the Lalandian skeptically. “How can I rely on that interpretation?”

Alex expected Mary to react indignantly, but she lowered her eyes. “You can’t,” she admitted. “I’m going on intuition.”

There was no doubt that Mary had gotten the attention of the Lalandian. When Mary had stepped backward it had reacted with a step toward her. Now it leaned toward her again, as if listening attentively to every word she said.

Mary eyed Johnny as if looking for a cue, but said nothing.

Alex took Mary’s hand and squeezed it. “Talk to it some more. What have we got to lose?”

Mary straightened her body bravely, looking up at the creature. “Clicker men,” she shouted, touching her temple as before. “Jupiter ... clicker men. Is that what you want?”

The alien stiffened. “Wan’,” buzzed the globe.

“Want,” repeated Mary.

“li ... er ... mmeh.”

“Yes, I think it wants the clicker men,” Mary said. “To see them, I suppose.”

“Are we talking to it, or giving it suggestions?” Johnny asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

“I think it’s hearing me,” answered Mary. “But I don’t know if it’s hearing my voice or radio.”

“Whatever,” Johnny answered. “This makes you our interpreter. Do your best, Mary.”

“That’s what I always do.” Mary glared back at Johnny.

The alien didn’t seem to react to the commentary. Ignoring Alex, Johnny and everything going on around them, it continued its humming, focusing only on Mary.

“Do you want to meet the clicker men?” Mary shouted up to the creature, which stood a few heads taller than her. “We can take you to them.”

A moment later something sounding like “tay too” came from the buzzing green head.

Johnny slowly approached Mary. “Are you promising to take the Lalandian to see the clicks?” he whispered, looking up at the alien. “How do you propose we accomplish that?”

The Lalandian lowered its vibrating head and moved toward Johnny. “ooo-mmm-aa-nn-errrr.”

Johnny blinked. “Did it say Commander? Did it actually say that?” He seemed delighted to see Mary nod an agreement.

Mary didn’t answer him immediately. Her index finger was at her temple and she seemed to be listening. A moment later she said, “Another transmission. This time it’s your voice, Johnny. From the
Diver
mission ...?” She blinked. “It a replay of a replay ... a report from ICNN news.”

“You’re hearing this?” Johnny eyed her skeptically.

Mary nodded again. “You are discussing the reef. The music we heard there.”